Texas Heisman: Campbell matched the hype

Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell will be honored with actor Matthew McConaughey and six other former Texas Longhorns at the Texas Exes' Distinguished Alumni Awards in October.

AUSTIN — Along with the notoriety he gained from winning the 1977 Heisman Trophy, Earl Campbell discovered the award came with a few assumptions, too. But a man named Bill Currier soon found out not all of them were correct.

Currier, then a Houston Oilers safety, had heard reports that the previous year's Heisman winner, Tony Dorsett, paid a Dallas Cowboys teammate a hefty sum to get his college uniform number. And Currier's jersey with the Oilers was No. 20 — the same one Campbell wore at Texas.

Sensing an opportunity, Currier approached Campbell, who the Oilers had selected with the first overall pick in the NFL draft, with a proposition. The way Campbell remembers it, Currier offered to sell him his number for $15,000.

Campbell scoffed.

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Heisman year: 1977

School: Texas

Position: Running back

Class: Senior

High school: Tyler John Tyler

Heisman season: Campbell led the nation in rushing (a then-SWC-record 1,744 yards) and scoring (18 touchdowns). The Longhorns finished the regular season 11-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country before losing the Cotton Bowl to Notre Dame.

Heisman moment: If there was any doubt Campbell was going to win the trophy heading into Thanksgiving weekend, he blew it away with a 222-yard, three-touchdown rushing effort against No. 12 Texas A&M. He also had a 60-yard touchdown catch in UT's 57-28 victory.

What happened in 1978: The Houston Oilers made him the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft, and Campbell immediately rewarded them for it. He led the NFL in rushing with 1,450 yards, was named Rookie of the Year and played in the Pro Bowl.

NFL career: In 61/2 seasons with the Oilers, Campbell won the league's rushing title three times, was named All-Pro three times, and played in five Pro Bowls. In 1984, he was traded to New Orleans, where he finished his eight-year career. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991.

Post-playing days: Campbell has served as a special assistant to the athletic director at UT, where a 9-foot statue in his image stands in the corner of Royal-Memorial Stadium. Campbell also runs his own business, Earl Campbell Meat Products, Inc., which has sold sausage and spices for two decades.

Mike Finger

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“I told him, '(Shoot), I don't need no number that bad,'” Campbell said. “(Coach) Bum Phillips said, 'If you want it, I'll get it.' I said, 'A number never got me into the end zone.'”

Campbell, now 58, still laughs at the absurdity of the idea that he'd care about a number's symbolism. What he doesn't deny, however, is the profound impact that the Heisman can have on a man once he wins it.

When he accepted the trophy in New York almost 36 years ago, Campbell said, he thought he understood what it meant. He knew it went to the best college football player in the country, and he said he knew it was as much of a reflection on his teammates as it was on himself.

But he didn't comprehend everything.

“You know what you did to get it,” Campbell said. “But you don't realize the life you have to try to live after you got it.”

This summer, as the changing world around the most recent Heisman winner has captured the college football world's attention, Campbell said he can relate. He called those first few weeks and months of 1978 “overwhelming,” and said the pressure might have been rough to deal with if he'd listened to what people were saying.

The key, he said, was that he didn't.

“It never really mattered what people expected of me,” Campbell said. “They couldn't run the football for me. They could just holler.”

In those early days with the Oilers, there was plenty of hollering. Campbell rushed for 1,450 yards as a rookie, leading the NFL and earning the Rookie of the Year award and a trip to the Pro Bowl. The next year he was even better, rushing for 1,697 yards and being named by the Associated Press as the league's Most Valuable Player.

Still, though, the Heisman effect lingered. Campbell said he noticed it every time he was introduced in public.

“Your name changes,” Campbell said. “It gets longer. First they say University of Texas, then Heisman Trophy winner, then Earl Campbell. That lets you know you didn't do anything yourself.”

Campbell's football career is long over, but he remains a fixture at UT's team facility. Plagued by arthritic knees and a bad back after his bruising running style subjected his body to years of punishment, Campbell relies on a walker to move around. But thanks to workouts with UT strength coach Bennie Wylie, he's improving.

Between his conditioning and his sausage business — Earl Campbell Meat Products, Inc. — he has plenty to keep him occupied. But in a downtown office filled with mementos from a long career, the most prominent display case is reserved for the Heisman, and he said he still feels the hype.

“Probably, to be honest with you, it never stops,” Campbell said. “The older you get, the better it gets. If you're able to handle yourself right, it can be a great thing.”

Mike Finger has worked for the Express-News since 1999, writing about the Texas Longhorns, the Big 12, the NBA and the NFL before becoming a sports columnist. He's covered 13 Spurs postseasons, six Final Fours and more than a dozen college bowl games.